DNA-Carbon Nanotube Hybrid

Single-stranded DNA and carbon nanotubes are chemically compatible and readily self-assemble into DNA-carbon nanotube hybrids (pictured here). These materials have applications in nanoelectronics, medicine, environmental safety and homeland security. Dr. Robert R. Johnson of the University of Pennsylvania has used computer simulation to study the structure of these nanomaterials.

Supernovae from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Part of the images of all the supernovae from the 2005-2007 observing campaigns of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

Carbon Nanotube FET Sensor

Schematic of a carbon nanotube FET sensor functionalized with an antibody to a Lyme disease biomarker protein. The insulating substrate is shown in pink. When antigen molecules bind to the antibody, the electrical characteristics of the FET are altered.

From the lab of Prof. Charlie Johnson.

Graphene

Penn physicists study graphenes, atomically thin sheets of carbon atoms in a honeycomb lattice. Graphene is the prototype Dirac material hosting a solid state realization of an ultra-relativistic electron gas and accessing new phenomena that are controlled by electric and magnetic fields and by the atomic registry when graphenes are stacked.

Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a second generation dedicated solar neutrino experiment which has extended the results of the Penn group with the Kamiokande II detector by measuring three reactions of solar neutrinos to fully resolve the solar neutrino problem.

News

Johnson, a professor of physics, has a career that has ranged from the
basic science of nanomaterials through some very practical applications
of them. He has pioneered and commercialized manufacturing techniques
that make mass production of graphene for research and other uses
possible, continues to pin down the mechanisms underlying the tiny
materials’ properties, and has worked to incorporate biology and
chemistry with nanotech in ways that could offer big steps forward in
everything from health diagnostics to environmental monitoring.